Beijing, China (2005)

We came to Beijing for a remote sensing conference, did some shopping at the fake designers markets, ate enormous exotic feasts, breathed the foul air, and visited the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and the Great Wall of China.

5 of about 10 identical condos. Beijing is all about quantity.

Big curvy architecture.

Scenes of a bit less metropolitan China.

Beijing Friendship Store.

Josh protects the red rope, the guard protects the black shiny cars.

Carmel, Josh and Mao outside The Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City: Tourists & Large Red Walls.

Carmel wears camouflage.

The man in the striped shirt pauses moments before he is eaten brutally by the lion thing.

Beneath part of the FC.

Critter Fur has seen enough.

Pretty much a Large Stone Carving.

Josh & Carolyn in front of groovy rock.

Pagoda on hill.

Random art within the Forbidden City.

Top of the Forbidden City.

It’s universal: Hear no Evil, See no Evil, Speak no Evil.

The driver protective case inside a cab.

The Antiques Market.

Colorful art inside the Antiques Market.

Think of the savings.

The tag says, “Don’t be Fooled by Imitations.”

My 2 “Rolex” watches I bought for $10.

Sadly, no slurpees.

The Chinese Ethnic Culture Park.

No Chinese banquet feast is complete without 40’s and a log of rice.

Lots of unknown crazy food, such as this coiled up snake (left) and brain (right). Actually, the brain was meatless.

Traditional music and dance.

Early morning tai-qi in the park outside our hotel. Older people seem to get so much more exercise in China than in the US.

The famous Lao She tea house.

The best tea in the world may be in China, and quite possibly at Lao She.

Fantastic Lao She show.

This wonderful fountain was synchronized to classical music every morning when we arrived at the conference and during our lunches.

Josh gives his keynote talk.

Josh finished his talk with a photo of the fountain outside for humor, which possibly earned him more respect than the research itself.

Eastern style toilets require squatting and no flushing of toilet paper. Smell was lovely.

Entrance to the Summer Palace.

Graffiti in oppressive China comes in the water brush variety.

Carmel with Secret Service.

Summer scenery.

Something grand, I don’t know what.

Chillin’ at the SP.

Carmel gets some shade.

The Summer Palace was built in a cool environment to keep the emperors out of the summer heat.

Entrance to more entrances.

Chairs.

Carmel in a courtyard.

Scary courtyard statues.

Pretty colorful ceilings.

Old vases.

VIP section of the Summer Palace.

Raar!!!

Another scary keeper of the palace.

Bridge over still water.

On the bridge.

Paths along the Summer Palace.

This bridge was quite tough to cross.

Another intricate hut.

An interesting statue.

Rocks on lawn.

Carmel on lawn.

Summer Pond.

The purely ornamental marble boat would sink if not docked.

Framed scenery.

Please.

Mini tree.

In the hills of the SP.

Where does this cave lead? Right around the corner.

I don’t know where this picture came from.

Invaders scraped the heads off of all these little Buddhas.

This is THE street for tea in Beijing.

This is where Josh bought some hwa cha—Jasmine tea—for his Po-Po.

Giant needle poking into the smog.

This is where Peng Gong took us for a feast of exotic foods, including blood.

Goodness gracious great wall of China!

Sections of wall.

The perilous waters of the wall.

We look happy before we climb the wall.

In the wall.

Even the trash cans were great.

Josh defends China from the Mongols.

Protector of the wall does not get sun in his eyes.

These are original flags from the Kahr Dynasty.

At this point I really wouldn’t trust any numbers from Volvo.

Whatchoo lookin’ at?

The Bunny Warrior.

Hisssss.